Physical Health or Ranking - Boulter's Australian Open Dilemma
British Katie Boulter admits she feels she has to "decide between my physical health and my ranking" as the race continues for a position in January's Australian Open main event.
While the regular WTA Tour tournament schedule is completed, there are still standing points to be won in Latin American countries, Argentina, Ecuador and France.
The female entry list for the first Grand Slam of the forthcoming season will be calculated from the international positions of the December cutoff, which could cause a challenging situation for competitors close to the cut.
Physical Setbacks
Previous British number one Boulter suffered an abductor in her concluding competition of the year in Asian venues last timeframe, and is now evaluating whether to play in the WTA 125 secondary tournament in Angers, the European nation, in the opening days of December.
Boulter's recent injury, and the situation she would need to win at least multiple victories in Angers to improve her standing, means she may well end up not participating.
Contrasting Methods
In comparison, men's competitors are not facing the identical situation, as for the initial instance the men's Australian Open participant roster will be drawn up from current week's rankings, which is the ATP's official year-end position determination.
The adjustment is designed to preventing players from chasing position points during what is essentially the off-season.
Training Transitions
This season has been a challenging one for Boulter.
She won only 14 elite major tournament games and lately split with coach Biljana Veselinovic after a three-year working relationship in which she won several WTA victories.
"Biljana is an exceptional instructor, and an extremely quality individual as well, which creates situations very difficult," Boulter commented.
The pursuit for a different trainer is currently ongoing, searching for someone who has high-level experience as Boulter maintains the belief she can be a top-20 athlete.
Future Goals
"Moving ahead with a replacement instructor, a key aspect I'm absolutely certain on is that they are going to be someone who has considerable knowledge in how to succeed to the peak performance of this profession," she stated.
"I've been positioned as advanced as twenty-three and I know I can return there. I don't think my performance has diminished, I believe the consistency needs to enhance.
"My objective is not to be ranked fifty, forty, 30, twenty - we've accomplished that. The goal is to be among 20."